575 on BAT

i'd disagree that your "stealing" cars over at BaT. some of those cars had issues (the 575 had accident history). or is it what actual prices are and not what marshall goldman asking prices think they are worth ?

https://www.similarweb.com/website/bringatrailer.com?competitors=ferrarichat.com

looks like the site gets plenty of traffic

i've seen (what i think) are some crazy big money sale prices on stuff and rare cars with super low production volumes - so the bidders show up for cars much rarer than ferraris

 

fix the format and they will come....

 

the difference is you already have the traffic.

look.. i knew about the upcoming auctions. i wanted to watch them .... might have not been interested in the particular models but ill bid and buy anything if i think its a deal.

but i completely missed both and i am on the site multiple times a day.

 

could it be that the message board format be is a hindrance ?

i check BaT every morning to see if there is something to blow $$$ on. requires nothing but a visit to the site and a scroll down.

 

I don't know if I'm in the minority or not, but I come directly to the new posts page, so if it's not at the top of that or otherwise blatantly obvious on that page, I won't (and didn't) see it while it's open for bidding.

 

How does that tell me there's an open Auction going on? Look at BAT, right at the top of the page it lists auctions that are open.

I rarely use the menu on top unless I decide to navigate to a specific forum (like the classifieds or specific to my model). I have the new posts page bookmarked so if it doesn't show up in the list of posts or right there at the top saying there's an open auction, It's likely that I won't see it. I may see discussion in advance or after the fact, but it's not likely I'll see it while it's going on unless I decide to frequently check the auctions - which may happen once some momentum builds, but that won't happen if you don't build the momentum first.

I knew about the auctions, I see the menu there, but there's no indication of open or upcoming auctions without me clicking through a few times to something, I think that's an issue if you want to build momentum, especially for people that don't come specifically looking to buy something on a specific day.

 

my thinking goes along with pete's

i guess it is akin to putting the slot machines at the entrances...

 

Auctions are much more time sensitive than regular classifieds, and usually (at least on this site, for now), also much lower quantity. I wouldn't mind something like the top banner that on BAT if there's just one or two auctions active. It'd be more relevant than half of the banner ads, and we're all fine with those.

 

but thats not how the site started and they were not till maybe a little over a year ago.

please put a $50k bid in out that BBi in case i miss it

 

well that takes the fun out of it.....

i would guess 80-90% of the bids from bidders on BaT have no intention of buying the car at market price and or cannot afford it. doesn't stop them from bidding, say 456 on a 456 ferrari. it all adds to the fun and the traffic

 

Rob, I had seen the top banner/notice announcing the auctions, but had a frustrating experience trying to get to the action as the link that was in the notice took me to discussions about the auction, not to the actual auction where I can see the car, pics, etc... THEN, if I’d be interested, I may want to peruse and participate in the comments.

There are many things wrong with BAT, but the one thing that they do very well is their UX flow: lure with pics and current price, provide detailed info about the car (with more pics), then expose the discussions/comments. For me, as a user of BAT, this is their winning formula.

Ruben

 

Rob: that's a great example of not wanting to see whats right in front of you......you're wasting valuable real estate right where ALL the eyes go first.....and that's not the header bar.....
It's all that open real estate right below it....
If somebody wants the auction, it's right there, tap and done.....if I don't want the auction, it's scrolling away anyway! sheesh!

 

I just think in general like I said earlier, most people dont really want to buy a Ferrari via auction. Even Mecum this weekend struggled selling a couple Ferraris. Ferraris are posted all over ebay but most use ebay to see a car and then go see it. The whole auction format works when you have a really rare car that tons of people are after if you're looking for top dollar otherwise auctions are used to wholesale cars at manheim for low prices.

Most people selling a Ferrari, assuming its been taken care of want top dollar and thats just not what auctions bring unless you're doing something rare like an F50 or something. BAT gets horrible prices for most of the exotics they sell but the sellers are fine with that bc those prices are probably higher than trade in values. The reality is all our Ferraris have a high value to us, other buyers don't care, like I said my 575, I was offered $82k by the Ferrari dealer, they told me its not an easy car to sell, I bet if I gave it to them they would've listed it at $129k like all the other red low mile ones on ebay right now, maybe even higher bc they're a Ferrari dealer. Its just the nature of the business with these cars. Rare cars will fetch top dollar, the 512bbi should do well, but most "regular" ferraris on BAT and on here probably will fetch wholesale prices bc most buyers buying these cars they're not seeing in person are going to discount heavily for repairs/maintenance it may need.

 

I echo Pete's comments. Now that I know where the auctions are I'm going to check it more often but after the initial car, I forgot about it and didn't even notice them.

 

Sorry, but I think FChat should work on improving the site, not competing in the auction space. Not just the recently introduced facelift, but features and a redesign that make the community site better - like figuring out how to improve the search function, adding more stickies, etc. so you can actually find topics of interest. Auctions are way above the ability of FChat.